Man of Steel
Man of Steel is a 2013 film based on the DC Comics superhero Superman. It is the first film in the DC Cinematic Multiverse. It was directed by Zack Snyder and stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Michael Shannon as General Zod, the film's main antagonist. Plot The planet Krypton faces imminent destruction due to its unstable core, the result of depleting Krypton's natural resources. Krypton's military commander,General Zod, and his followers initiate a coup d’etat and depose the ruling council. Scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara briefly celebrate the birth of their son, Kal-El, the first naturally born Kryptonian child in centuries. Aware of the cause for their civilization's ruin, Jor-El infuses Kal-El's cells with a genetic codex of the entire Kryptonian race, and puts Kal-El on a spacecraft to planet Earth. Zod kills Jor-El but fails to retrieve the codex. He and his followers are exiled to the Phantom Zone for treason. After Krypton explodes, they are indirectly freed and become the sole survivors of Krypton, aside from Kal-El. Kal-El's ship lands in Smallville, a small town in Kansas. He is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name him Clark. Clark's Kryptonian physiology affords him superhuman abilities on Earth, much to his confusion. Despite his isolation from the community, he eventually uses his powers to help others. After revealing to a teenage Clark that he is an extraterrestrial, Jonathan reveals his concern about social rejection and forewarns him not to use his powers in public. Several years later, after they have an argument, Jonathan dies in a tornado while refusing to let Clark use his powers to save him. After Jonathan's death, an adult Clark spends several years living a nomadic lifestyle, working different jobs under assumed identities, anonymously performing good deeds, and struggling to cope with the loss of his adoptive father. Clark infiltrates a U.S. military investigation of a Kryptonian scout spaceship in the Canadian Arctic. When Clark enters the alien ship, he uses a Kryptonian "control-key" from the ship that brought him to Earth, which allows him to communicate with the preserved consciousness of Jor-El in the form of a hologram. Jor-El reveals Clark's origins and the extinction of his race, and tells Clark that he was sent to Earth to bring mankind hope for a better future. Lois Lane, a journalist from the Daily Planet newspaper, sent to write a story on the discovery, sneaks inside the ship. When she is injured by its security system, Clark saves her. Lois' editor, Perry White, rejects her story of a "superhuman" rescuer, so she traces Clark back to Kansas with the intention of writing an exposé. After hearing his story, she decides not to reveal his secret. Zod and his crew seek out other worlds colonized by the Kryptonian race. They discover that none of the outposts survived, and scavenge useful equipment. They eventually pick up a Kryptonian distress signal sent from the ship Clark discovered on Earth. Zod arrives at Earth and demands that the humans surrender Kal-El, whom he believes has the codex. Clark accepts, and the military hands him and Lois over to Zod's second-in-command, Faora. Zod reveals his intention to use a terraforming "world engine" to transform Earth into a new Krypton and use the codex to repopulate the planet with genetically-engineered Kryptonians. The fact that the terraforming will kill Earth's indigenous life doesn't faze him. Clark and Lois escape Zod's ship with Jor-El's help. Clark repels Faora and another Kryptonian, and convinces the military that he is an ally. Zod deploys the world engine and initiates the process in Metropolis and over the southern Indian Ocean, increasing the Earth's mass and atmosphere. Clark, now called "Superman", destroys the world engine, while the military crashes Kal-El's spacecraft into Zod's ship, sending it back into the Phantom Zone. Zod survives and, after vowing to kill every single human on Earth as revenge, engages Superman in a destructive battle across Metropolis. When Zod refuses to stop killing, Superman is forced to kill him, and screams in anguish after destroying the last fellow Kryptonian. The U.S. government eventually reluctantly allies with Superman. To create an alias that gives him access to dangerous situations without arousing suspicion, Clark obtains work as a stringer (reporter) for the Daily Planet. Cast *Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman *Amy Adams as Lois Lane *Michael Shannon as General Zod *Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent *Diane Lane as Martha Kent *Russell Crowe as Jor-El *Antje Traue as Faora *Laurence Fishburne as Perry White *Harry Lennix as General Swanwick *Ayelet Zurer as Lara Lor-Van *Christopher Meloni as Nathan Hardy *Richard Schiff as Emil Hamilton *Christina Wren as Carrie Farris Production In August 2008, Warner Bros. decided to completely reboot the Superman film series. Jeff Robinov planned to have the film released either by 2010 or 2011. Paul Levitz stated in an interview that Batman holds the key to the Superman reboot. He elaborated, "Everyone is waiting for Nolan to sign on for another Batman, once that happens, the release date for Superman and all other future projects will follow." August 2009 saw a court ruling in which Jerry Siegel's family recaptured 50% of the rights to Superman's origins and Siegel's share of the copyright in Action Comics #1. In addition, a judge ruled that Warner Bros. did not owe the families additional royalties from previous films. However, if they did not begin production on a Superman film by 2011, then the Siegel estate would have been able to sue for lost revenue on an unproduced film. Man of Steel employs a nonlinear plotline narrative, telling parts of the story through flashbacks. During story discussions for The Dark Knight Rises in 2010, David S. Goyer told Christopher Nolan of his ideas on how to present Superman in a modern context. Impressed with Goyer's concept, Nolan pitched the idea to Warner Bros., who hired Nolan to produce and Goyer to write a film based on the financial and critical success of The Dark Knight. Nolan admired Bryan Singer's work on Superman Returns for its connection to Richard Donner's films, stating that "A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that's what I know how to do," emphasizing the idea that Batman exists in a world where he is the only superhero and a similar approach to the Man of Steel would assure the integrity needed for the film. "Each serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other." Nolan, however, clarified that the new film would not have any relationship with the previous film series. Jeff Robinov, Warner Bros. President, stated "It's setting the tone for what the movies are going to be like going forward. In that, it's definitely a first step." Plans included for the film to contain references to the existence of other superheroes, alluding to future films in the DC Extended Universe. Guillermo del Toro, with whom Goyer worked on Blade II, turned down the director's position on the reboot because of his commitment on a film adaptation of At the Mountains of Madness, while Robert Zemeckis was also approached, before Zack Snyder was hired in October 2010. Casting began the following November. Gallery Man of Steel Comic-Con poster.png|Comic Con Poster Man of Steel teaser poster.png|Teaser Poster Superman - first publicity picture.png|First publicity picture of Cavill as Superman Man of Steel Poster 4.jpg Man of Steel Back Poster.jpg Man of Steel Poster 3.jpg Man-of-Steel-poster-1-large.jpg Man of Steel - Superman character poster.png|Superman character poster Man of Steel - Jor-El character poster.png|Jor-El character poster Man of Steel - General Zod character poster.jpg|General Zod character poster Videos Appearances Locations *Earth **Fortress of Solitude **Metropolis ***Daily Planet ***LexCorp ***Ace O'Clubs **Smallville ***Kent Farm *Krypton **Kandor ***Genesis Chamber *Daxam External links *[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/ Man of Steel] at the Internet Movie Database Category:Man of Steel